Accents worth paying attention to- core values, leadership and higher order thoughts
In substantive and meaningful dialog, Meryl Streep embodies the Iron Lady and reminds us that the space between our ears matters. Time will reveal how we cared for our body, and whether we were in service to others and the result of the premises by which one conducts one's outward and inward life. The year is 1979 and there are many simularities to our own era and the impact of World War two, elections, and what will steer our future and restore jobs.
In this script, extraordinary times require extraordinary means. As an actress with a superb director, production team and troupe, this intimate film moves you through a controversial reign and life with grace,power, beauty and poignancy.
Exposing politics, agendas, and human scripts that we live by, Streep as Margaret Thatcher shows us how survival memories and values can pepper one's life. These become guiding principals edge out other values, not unlike the copy in ads from the Iowa Caucus ready now for comments by pundits from KPCC's Comedy Congress or Politfact.
When winning was required to have a country, what better "Joan of Arc" figure head than the UK's Margaret Thatcher who had faced the air raids, city bombings, economic crises, the formation of the EU, the change over away from the pound as currency, even standing alone with an entire male Parliament? The entire set of investors to production team and cast need to be commended on producing a cameo of a human being who wanted to be great who happens to be a woman who grew up between the second world war and Regan. Exactly why it might gain a lot of attention for all concerned as the screenings for the Academy Awards continue moving ahead.
In California, there are leaders with accents on doing great and interesting things as well this quarter.
The American Ground Water Trust will lead an annual conference January 30-31, 2012 at the Hilton Hotel at the Ontario Airport in Ontario California on Water Issues sponsored by the Association of Water Agencies including the California Ground Water Coalition that may want to discuss Aquifer Recharge and issues in the news from salt water issues to earthquakes and fracking.
Home Depot and the Water Resource Institute's Garden Friendly workshops and San Bernardino Valley Water Conservation Garden at CSUSB campus
http://garden.csusb.edu)
Ocean Literacy- The Ocean defines and dominates everything about our planet. It covers most of our planet, is home to most of the life on Earth, regulates our weather and climate, provides most of our oxygen, and feeds much of the human population.
Creatin stories about climate change, ocean acidification, overfishing, hurricanes, tsunamis, etc. dominate the news, Oceak Speak.org is taking on teachers, students, and new technologies to provide quality systems based information.
And the ocean provides over $43 billion per year to the economy in California alone. While it is obvious why understanding and protecting the ocean is so critical to the future health of our planet, it is sometimes difficult to understand how we got quite where we currently are.
Many scientists and educators believe that it was because in the National Science Education Standards (NSES) were published in 1996, there was almost no mention of the ocean and aquatic sciences.
As a result, none of the 50 US states, which each have their own science standards, include much about the ocean, coasts, Ocean Literacy became a project and a curriculum because of this
http://oceanliteracy.wp2.coexploration.org/). Now children across the nation can catch up to our coastline and what it can provide as a bridge to the past, the future, and our interface with the wilds on our water planet.
At Christmas, more than two brits found a voice or a song or two to benefit New Education Options and its after school enrichment projects in schools in the San Fernando Valley at Kulakswoodshed.com. Focusing on William Elliott's All Hearts are Home for Christmas and the use of music to awaken watershed awareness and vital reading and language skills, artists joined David Philps (www.myspace.com/davephilpandthesemiautomatics) and Marcos Lopez Inglesias (www.myspace.com/marcostigerlyric) and Remo educator, Homero Chavez in welcoming in the holiday and debuting songs worldwide for local educational programs and to create jobs in the future for arts integration teachers.
Other great concepts to live by come from the eight Millennium Development Goals of the UN:
Millennium Development Goal List
Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
Achieve universal primary education
Promote gender equality and empower women
Child mortality
Improve maternal health
Combat HIV/Aids, malaria, and other diseases
Ensure environmental sustainabilty
Develop a Global Partnership for Development
As Thatcher would say we must live by habits that are guided first from the quality of our thoughts. We would be remiss if we forgot to remember how walking can be a source of inspiration. The Millennium Goals have to be applied at a local level. Stewardship is a nondisputable activity that protects air, water, parks, and habitats for all of us.
Trails 4 All.org (www.trails4all.org/cleanup/2008/index.asp) along with the RTCA (rivers, trails, and conservation assistance program) by the National Parks Service by the US Interior, are partnered in suporting the public to discover a healthier, deeper, and both long term and immediate value in exercise and in the process be introduced to conservation, science and ecology. In the process of self-care, ocean, mountain and rivers stewardship suddenly makes sense.
Exemplary ideas like putting down the video game and seeing a real frog gives us an opportunity despite daily obstacles to find out about geology, the habitat where we live, and serve our families. The physical and health needs and the nature aesthetics, heart saving recreational possibilities, and the chance to directly experience the results of LA River and San Gabriel River Master Plans are still emerging. Watch for hiking, canoeing, and a new river pickups.
There will be continuing activities El Canto and the Discovery Center in Azusa that will expand on the LA River site
http://watershedconservationauthority.org/plans/el-encanto.html).
Paraphrasing the Iron Lady's script and Meryl's key comments as "if you want an superb life, pay attention to your thoughts and be authentic from your depth. Keep your word, don't be run by your feelings." What we focus on we will become. Just as thoughts need to be refined and cultivated. It is noteworthy just as in a garden, our expectations for a great new year may need to be tended with care.
What a great thought for the new year…both new and old….and for elders to kinders…il faut cultiver notre jardins….its necessary to weed, plant and tend our parks, streets, and ocean and there are lots of leaders, educators, economists, and biologists that might agree that our thoughts will guide our actions and how we see our opportunities.
_________________________________________
Assorted Websites to Visit Below-
Hiking, Coastal Clean ups, River Clean ups:
http://www.trails4all.org/T4A/ Agencies, Advocacy, Job Experience, and Partners:
http://www.coastkeeper.org/http://www.coastkeeper.org/ http://www.lacorps.org http://www.mountainstrust.org/ http://www.epa.gov/watersense/ State, University, Foundation, Community and Institute Resources:
http://oceanspeak.org/ http://www.islaearth.org/ http://www.water.rutgers.edu/Rain_Gardens/RGWebsite/raingardens.html http://www.quick-good-fortune.com/Mary-Wright-Art-Native.html http://www.mujeresdelatierra.org/ http://wri.csusb.edu/wriProjects/index.html http://smmc.ca.gov/ http://www.lamountains.com/planning_river.html Visions of students with new skills and understanding:
California Center For Land And Water Stewardship
http://www.csupomona.edu/~cclaws/index.shtml Tools for water saving circumstances:
http://www.watersaver.com/pond-lake-liners-geomembrane-erosion-sediment-control-contact_us.aspx Water Resources & Shale-Gas Development and Water Conference Info:
http://www.agwt.org/workshops.htm Ocean Literacy and Ocean Speak:
http://oceanliteracy.wp2.coexploration.org/?page_id=164 http:oceanspeak.org
Planning for water use
http://www.water.ca.gov/irwm/ http://www.northcoastirwmp.net/Content/10300/preview.html http://ladpw.org/wmd/watershed/LA/LA_River_Plan.cfm Parks and new learning museums and local stewardship actions:
http://discoverycenterauthority.org/ http://watershedconservationauthority.org http://www.rmc.ca.gov/ http://www.healthebay.org/event/nothin-sand-beach-cleanup-january http://www.labikepaths.com/bike-paths/san-gabriel-river-mid-trail/ Target Science Project:
http://www.laep.org/target/units/river/lessons/river_web.html http://www.agwt.org/teachers/institutehome.htm LA River Info:
http://www.deliriousla.net/lariver/links.htm http://www.lariver.org/resources.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Angeles_River Fact checker:
http://www.politifact.com/mobile/ http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/ Movie Review:
Arclight showing the Iron Lady in Hollywood/Variety Review:
http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117946640?refcatid=31 UN Millennium Goals and Meetings:
http://www.un.org/waterforlifedecade/ http://www.jpost.com/GreenIsrael/PEOPLEANDTHEENVIRONMENT/Article.aspx?id=247423 http://www.endpoverty2015.org/